Developers proposing hotel, slots emporium near central Worcester

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 4:00 PMDec 12, 2012 at 3:40 PM

A well-known Cambridge hotel developer and two casino gaming companies are maneuvering to acquire the 14-acre Wyman-Gordon property near downtown for development as a boutique hotel and slot machine parlor. The slots emporium would be the only one in the state and would have to be approved by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and a majority of voters in a city-wide referendum.

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A well-known Cambridge hotel developer and two casino gaming companies are maneuvering to acquire the 14-acre Wyman-Gordon property near downtown for development as a slot machine parlor.

The slots emporium would be the only one in the state and would have to be approved by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The state is seeking nonrefundable $400,000 fees for applications for a slots parlor and three full-scale casinos by Jan. 15.

Richard L. Friedman, president and chief operating officer of Cambridge-based Carpenter and Company, told the Telegram & Gazette today that he is actively working on a $150 million plan for a boutique hotel and other uses near the downtown CitySquare development.

Mr. Friedman, a noted Democratic fund-raiser and friend of former President Bill Clinton and President Obama, said he has long been interested in building a hotel in the city, but that there has not been enough market demand until recently. He said the time is right now, with new buildings rising and other redevelopment projects where the old Galleria and Worcester Common Outlets Mall once stood on the edge of the downtown Common.

“For 10 or 15 years, we've been talking to city officials about a significant project in Worcester, and we do have an interest in mixed-use projects in Worcester,” he said. “Worcester deserves a much higher quality level of development than in the past.”

A source close to the casino industry and familiar with the Worcester negotiations confirmed that the location Mr. Friedman is targeting is the Wyman-Gordon property at 105 Madison St.

Any gaming facility in the city would need to be approved by a majority of voters in the ward in which the operation is proposed, unless the City Council votes to make the referendum city-wide. Such a ballot question would likely trigger vigorous political and marketing campaigns — pro and con — on the often controversial question of gaming.

In 2007, city voters approved a nonbinding referendum to allow a casino in Worcester.

Also, city officials would probably only support a plan that would be part of downtown redevelopment and not be a self-contained “box.”

“A few gaming entities have expressed interest in Worcester, but it has been very preliminary at best. I am a skeptic that gaming is an economic win for the city, but I am always open-minded to any proposal that is positive for us,” said City Manager Michael V. O'Brien.

“It would have to integrate with our economic development agenda and would have to be an enhancement to our existing restaurant, theaters, cultural and entertainment venues.

“A vast, big-box expanse of slot machines, aka one-arm bandits, with easy-on and easy-off the highway access … is more than likely dead on arrival,” the city manager added.

Most of the metal parts factory that stood at the Wyman-Gordon site for more than a century was torn down in 2001. Wyman-Gordon, which is owned by the Portland, Ore. conglomerate Precision Castparts Corp., stopped actively marketing the land in 2009 because of the depressed economy. The lot has remained largely empty since, regarded as something of an eyesore in the center of the city.

The chief spokesman for the Oregon company did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Mr. Friedman, former chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission under former President Clinton and a member of President Obama's Export Council, developed the upscale Liberty Hotel in Boston and Charles Hotel in Cambridge, the St. Regis San Francisco, Brookline Marriott Courtyard, and Hyatt hotels in Cambridge and Princeton, N.J.

He would appear to have the edge over the other developers — one of which was identified by Mr. Friedman as Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. of Las Vegas — because of his long ties to Worcester.

Mr. Friedman was one of the three development experts whom Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray had asked to run a 2003 forum, when Mr. Murray was Worcester mayor, to discuss the future of the then faltering former mall. With the gaming commission's deadline coming up soon, speculation about the future location of the state's single slots parlor has, up to now, centered around the Plainridge horse track in Plainville and the former Raynham dog track.

However, the sources said Plainridge and Raynham could likely be supplanted by Worcester as a favored location because the two facilities are too close to the Boston area, where two full-scale casinos are thought to be on the fast track.

According to this reasoning, Worcester is well-placed to snare prospective Boston area and northern New England slots customers who otherwise would keep going toward the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casino and slots complexes in Connecticut.